Pinkfish,
I, and at least one other that I know agree with you completely on the tech points. \:\) I wrote a post about it somewhere.
Parts on that touch on what you said:

http://www.ldwforums.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=53622&page=0&fpart=1

I think it's a big (and quite a dull part) flaw of the game \:\)
You're not alone in your thoughts! \:\)

But you're also right in saying how cute and the additive the game is \:\) There are heaps of good things about it and it is hard to stay away from your Little Village. Gmaes like this a way ahead of any Match 3 game and as I also mentioned in the above post, Arthur and LDW really set a high bar for the quality of internet games!! \:\)

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I play Virtual Villagers because Sims is too hard.